


Solidarity in the Name of Vampire Girls

by kibasniper



Category: Psychonauts (Video Games)
Genre: Developing Friendships, Gen, Slice of Life, Vampires, Video Game Mechanics, background franke/kitty, bobby gives her one small mercy because of it, by friendship it's like a mutual understanding of vampire girls are good, guest starring nitara from mortal kombat as the vampire
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-15
Updated: 2020-05-15
Packaged: 2021-03-03 00:27:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,972
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24195889
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kibasniper/pseuds/kibasniper
Summary: Returning to the lodge to find a bottle of Kitty's nail polish, Franke thinks it should be an easy task. Coming across Bobby playing a video game was not in the cards, however, and she has to come up with a plan to sneak around him to get the bottle. When she's within grasp of her goal, she becomes transfixed by the vampire girl on the screen.
Relationships: Franke Athens & Bobby Zilch
Kudos: 4





	Solidarity in the Name of Vampire Girls

_Aw, crap._

Franke hid in the doorway of the lodge’s television room. From her higher vantage point, she saw the bean bag chairs scattered in corners of the room. The wooden table next to the wall was covered high with coloring paper and markers. The oversized Apple computer with teal accents had one of many screensavers playing on another table on the opposite side of the room, the orange goldfish navigating through multicolored coral reefs. Otherwise, the room was as Franke expected with stray puzzle pieces on the carpet and activity books nestled in the lopsided shelves of the splintery, deep green bookcases.

But Franke didn’t care about any of that. She was far more concerned with Bobby Zilch slouched in a worn bean bag chair, which she realized resembled his unruly lump of hair. The only light in the room came from the television, which his eyes were glued to almost unblinkingly. The dark colors flashed across Bobby’s face as he mashed the buttons on his controller, the grunts and death throes of what Franke assumed was a fighting game echoing in the otherwise silent room.

She thought retrieving Kitty’s nail polish was going to be simple. When they had spent the last hour in there gossiping about the Tender Brains and sharing kisses, Kitty left behind a bottle of nail polish. It was half-used, the brand slipping from Franke’s mind, but she remembered it was a pretty teal color that matched the glittery eyeshadow Kitty wore that morning. While she had insisted she could buy another bottle off her father’s credit card, Franke volunteered to find it. 

The perplexion on Kitty’s face had been worth her suggestion. How her nicely curved eyebrows arched and her lips puckered, it was a face imprinted in Franke’s memory. She was certain that it was nestled between the bean bags that they had been lounging on just a half hour ago, so she had been confident in her ability to find the bottle and return it to Kitty in a matter of minutes and hoped a plethora of kisses would be her reward.

But there was Bobby sitting on the same bean bag where Kitty had once sat. She was certain the nail polish must have been sequestered underneath it, unless Bobby had already found it. The thought of Bobby doing something horrible to Kitty’s nail polish like twisting off the cap and hocking a loogie in it made her heart squeeze. She fiddled with the high collar of her beige turtleneck, sweat beading her brow as Bobby continued playing his game, completely unaware of her presence.

Glancing over her shoulder, Franke surveyed the interior of the lodge. No one else was around. Phoebe and Quentin’s instruments were left unmanned. Chef Cruller was not poking at undercooked lumps of gray meat on the grill. She squinted at the table where Milka usually sat, noticing the crayons were still next to perfectly white sheets of computer paper, but she couldn’t be entirely sure if Milka was simply invisible.

The reminder of the strange Tender Brain made her eyes widen. An idea struck her, one which Milka would have approved wholeheartedly. Her cheeks lifted upwards as she closed her eyes, and she willed herself to become invisible. She felt the recycled air of the lodge on her body like a draft, and when she opened her eyes, she couldn’t see her limbs.

 _Perfect,_ she thought, clenching her fists.

She still had the problem of getting the nail polish from Bobby, but she figured using invisibility was a step in the right direction. Franke balanced her weight on her toes and stepped inside. She soundlessly crept down the steps and approached Bobby, who paused his game to reach for a bag of pretzels resting on his knee. Pursing her lips, she held her breath and stopped behind him, locating the round bottom of the bottle poking out from underneath the bean bag just as she anticipated.

As Bobby popped a handful of pretzels in his mouth, Franke crouched behind him. She wiggled her fingers, grinning as she grabbed the nail polish. Even though it looked like the bottle was hovering in midair, she chuckled silently while Bobby resumed his game, having not even realized she was behind him the whole time.

But when she took her first step to leave, she noticed Bobby’s character and straightened. She leaned forward, her other hand nearly touching Bobby’s shoulder as his character blocked, then quickly struck the yellow-clad ninja with a well-timed kick to his chest. She was tall, her complexion bordering on tan. With jet black hair matching the leathery, bat-like wings protruding from her back, Franke mouthed her awe, transfixed on the character’s puffy red sleeves and bikini-like armor.

It quickly dawned on her that the character was a vampire. Blood gushed out of the ninja’s neck as she chomped down on him, her pearly white fangs gleaming. A few quick stabs to the gut from her curved dagger and down went the ninja, ending the battle in Bobby’s favor as the vampire laughed, a throaty quality to her voice which had Franke gawking.

“Dammit, I missed the timing on the Fatality again,” Bobby mumbled as the screen darkened.

Franke blinked at her reflection in the television. For a moment, she thought it was another character model while the game loaded. But when Bobby snapped his head over his shoulder, a sound similar to a crow cawing out in pain escaping from him, she clapped her hands over her cheeks, her invisibility having worn off while she fawned over his character.

“Ass-ens! Whaddaya think you’re doing standing behind me like that? Are you pullin’ a Milka on me?” he barked, rage burning his freckled complexion red as he hurried to his feet. He tightened his grip around his controller, knuckles burning white, and he squared his shoulders, Franke’s dread pooling in the pit of her stomach.

Noises fumbled in her mouth. A disjointed stream of excuses bubbled up within her and spewed out nonsensically. With Bobby clearly enjoying the way she stumbled over her words, his attention fixed on her pale face, she stuffed the nail polish into her back pocket. She licked her lips, her eyes searching for help, but there was none to find when Bobby sneered that he’d give her five seconds to answer before he would start pounding.

Franke swallowed, her audible gulp making him snicker. She glanced passed him and found the character select screen for the game he had been playing. His cursor was on the vampire, showing off her strong jaw, full lips, and toned frame, and Franke’s cheeks flushed, the sweat on her brow cooling when she pointed at her.

“Uh, who’s-uh, I mean, that chick-” She cleared her throat. “Who is she?”

Puzzlement overrode his anger and relaxed his features. Bobby peered over his shoulder, the question making his caterpillar-like eyebrows rise closer to his hairline. He gripped his hip, asking, “You talking about Nitara?”

“If the sexy vampire’s named Nitara, then, yeah, that’s who I mean,” she said, hoping she sounded as confidently as Kitty. She stumbled around him, leaning forward and placing her hands on her knees and grinned at Nitara. Whistling to herself, she tilted her head and said, “Wow, she’s smoking! I didn’t know polygons could look so good.”

“You think she looks good?” Bobby asked, scratching his neck and coming next to her.

“Duh, dude! She’s, like, a babe and a half.” She inspected the studs on Nitara’s outfit and the chopsticks in her hair. They reminded her of the weekend when Kitty had worn similar accessories, rocking them with flare unmatched by the other campers (and certainly earning their jealousy). The silver studs that had lined the pockets of her Gucci jacket, and the stainless steel chopsticks keeping her multicolored bun together nearly made Franke swoon on the spot when Kitty emerged from the advanced campers’ cabin.

Franke blinked, struck back to reality by the memory. Raking her fingers through her hair, she backed away from the game. She felt the nail polish bottle in her pocket, suddenly much heavier than before as she shifted her weight onto her left leg, getting ready to run in case Bobby lunged at her.

“You actually think she looks good?” Bobby questioned, Franke frowning at his insistence.

“Um, yeah, man, that’s literally what I just said.” She took another step towards the staircase. “Vampire girls are, like, the best.”

“That’s what I said!” he exclaimed, thrusting his finger at her nose.

Franke bit back a yelp and stumbled, her arms flailing at his gesture. Her back hit the railing, and breath expelled from her lungs. As the air huffed past her suddenly chapped lips, she let her mouth hang open as Bobby tossed the controller on his bean bag.

“Uh, said about what?” she asked, pushing herself off the railing. She quickly felt her pocket, sighing when she felt the bottle.

“Milla’s been on my ass about this game. She said I shouldn’t be playing anything with girls who dress like Nitara,” he recalled, rolling his eyes. “She took me aside and said, ‘Bobby, you got to play games suited for your age group.’” He snorted and wrinkled his nose. “As if one sick vampire wearing a bikini and holding a dagger is worse than Nils’ Girls Gone Wild videos.”

Franke nodded. While she liked Milla, sometimes she could be overbearing. And she felt it was a bit ironic for Milla to say that when a few True Psychic Tales issues portrayed her wearing outfits that showed off skin much like the women in Bobby’s game.

Clicking her tongue, she said, “That sucks.” Franke glanced at the roster, feeling a bit foolish for being unable to come up with anything else to say. She was sure Kitty would have come up with something wittier to go corroborate his complaining. 

Much to her disappointment, there were only a few more women. The men were pretty ugly at first look, and she didn’t spare them a second. But even though she didn’t know anything about the game except for Nitara being right up her alley, she decided the portraits of the other women also fit her tastes. The woman wearing the blue face mask with icicles slicking her hair up and the blonde woman whose wavy hair framed her face caught her attention as she scanned the characters, leaving her to wonder what they fully looked like when selected.

Sitting back down, Bobby grabbed his controller and fiddled with the control stick. As the cursor rotated around Nitara, he said, “Since you actually said something smart for once in your stinkin’ life, I’ll let you off just for today. I got an arcade mode to beat.” He narrowed his eyes and lowered his voice to a growl. “Don’t let me catch you sneaking around me again, got it? I ain’t too generous.”

She shrugged and cut her losses. She didn’t know how long Bobby’s calm would last before his storm began. Taking the compliment and running was probably what Kitty would do, too, instead of sticking around someone like Bobby. Skipping up the steps, Franke stuffed her hand into her pocket and wrapped her fingers around Kitty’s nail polish, the smooth container reassuring her that she had done something good for her girlfriend.

Peering back at Bobby as he returned to his game, Franke asked, “Oh, by the way, what game is that?”

“Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance. Get lost now,” he said, his attention fixed on the screen as he picked a pretty woman in a blue leotard.

“Got’cha,” she mumbled, flicking her gaze at the computer and smiling. Deciding to return when it was safe, Franke scampered off, her thoughts filled with the vampire of her dreams.


End file.
